Healthy & Useful

Photo credit: Caroline Flu season typically starts in the fall and reaches its peak in January. The flu virus spreads very quickly, but there are a number of simple ways to prevent and reduce the risk of germ transmission, by following some basic hygiene rules and taking precautions if living with someone who already…

As you could see in our “Baking soda Facts & Uses” article, baking soda can be used in various modes, for cooking, cleaning, but also as a home remedy for some common health problems. As it can be found in any supermarket and it has a low price, baking soda can often be our first…

As we already said in articles before, Mediterranean diet is not only a diet program for those who would like to lose weight, it is a diet for all those who want to stay healthy and in shape. It is easy to follow, no special programs needed, no calorie counting, just eating healthy Mediterranean ingredients…

Photo credit: Jamie Dobson Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the main key of the Mediterranean diet. It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, it lowers your cholesterol levels and protects against many diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Extra virgin olive oil is free of cholesterol and carbohydrates. Read about Olive oil facts and uses here…

Photo credit: haans gruber Fresh fruits and vegetables should be the food we consume the most during the day. Perhaps you read the story about the research “Human exposure to pesticides from food” done by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Swedish grocery chain Coop about what happened when one family of five switched from eating…

Photo credit: Super Fantastic Oven cleaning can be really boring and hard sometimes. Too many burned food deposits can be difficult to take off, they can cause lots of smoke when using the oven so it is recommended to clean the oven once a week if you use it often. Most conventional cleaning products contain…

Facts Vinegar is the only food that doesn’t have an expiration date. Its name comes from French “vin aigre” which means sour wine. Vinegar is produced from a great variety of raw food like grapes, apples, potatoes, honey etc. Hippocrates, the father medicine used apple cider vinegar to heal his patients. Apple cider vinegar can lower…

Facts Europeans used to call coffee “Arabian Wine”. The global spread of coffee cultivation and consumption in Ethiopia. The word “coffee” came from the Arabic “qahhwat al-bun” which means “wine of the bean”. Coffee trees produce red berries and coffee beans are actually green seeds inside the berries. In ancient Arab culture, if men did not provide…

Facts Garlic is also called a “Stinking Rose”. In ancient Rome and Greece, brides carried bouquets of garlic instead of flowers. There are more than 400 varieties of garlic and they are all member of the Lily family. China is the world’s biggest garlic producer, they produce about 70% of the world’s garlic. The key…

Lemon Facts Lemons are thought to be a hybrid between a citron and a sour orange. Lemons are one of the nature’s top sources of potassium and Vitamin C. Lemons have just 11 calories and around 50 mg of Vitamin C per 100 g. Citric acid makes up to 8 % of lemon juice and…

Olive oil Facts It is the main cooking oil in the Mediterranean countries. The oldest olive oil amphorae dates back to around 3500 BC. Olive tree on average can live between 400 and 600 years. The olive tree of Vouves (Crete, Greece) is the oldest olive tree in the world, aged around 3000 years and…

Facts Lavender or Lavandula is a flowering plant in the mint family. Its derives from the Latin word ‘lavare’, which means ‘to wash’. It has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antiseptic properties. In Ancient Egypt, lavender was used for the process of mummification. Ancient Romans used it for cooking and bathing. Island of Hvar (Croatia) is…